Hoosiers Get Into Foul Trouble, Fall Apart in 2nd Half in 72-60 Loss to Kentucky

LEXINGTON, Ind. — From the first day with Indiana basketball this season, it was very clear that Lamar Wilkerson was going to be a key part of the Hoosiers’ offense.

When the 6-foot-6 senior guard is on the floor and humming, we’ve seen great things. He averaged 22 points in Indiana’s first three games, and set an Assembly Hall record Tuesday night, scoring 44 points.

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He got off to a good start on Saturday night, too, scoring 12 first-half points in 11 minutes of action. But he also finished the half with three fouls and picked up a fourth less than two minutes into the second half. Without him on the floor, Indiana’s 7-point halftime lead quickly disappeared.

Kentucky got on a run, and never looked back, cruising to a 72-60 in the first regular season game in the rivalry in 14 years.

Without Wilkerson, the Hoosiers staggered through one offensive possession after another. Their second half might have been their worst of the season.

“Not having Lamar out there is a big part of our offense, and his foul trouble really limited him,” Indiana coach Darian DeVries said of Wilkerson, who only played 24 minutes and finished with 15 points. “In that stretch where he wasn’t out there, that’s when the turnovers started.

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“I thought the first half we got some pretty good action, pretty good movement. I thought in the second half, Kentucky certainly turned up the pressure and was able to get into us. We didn’t respond well enough. We turned the ball over too much, and live-ball turnovers against them are really hard because now they are out in transition playing in space. The turnovers and offensive rebounding really flipped the game around in the second half.”

Indiana (8-3) led 39-32 at the break, making the most of dribble penetration and getting to the rim. They were fouled often, and made 18-of-19 first half free throws. They were also very good defensively, with Kentucky shooting just 32 percent from the field and just 1-of-9 from deep.

The Hoosiers were up…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/hoosiers-foul-trouble-fall-apart-135441975.html

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Publish date : 2025-12-14 13:54:00

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